highchome

Update: Week 7 of veg I've been trying to see what combination of the nutrient mix was causing the white precipitate. So far nothing . I'll keep those for a bit longer to see if anything changes. I'm beginning to wonder if it was not just the silicon that I had not let stand for long enough before mixing in the A+B. Then the cloudiness a few days after the mixing could simply be a bacterial bloom. I usually clean out the res, but I've not been cleaning the airstones. This could be an issue as they are ideal places for bateria to grow. I've bleached them and will try a new res later this week to see. Feels like some progress at least, seems unlikely its a bad batch of nutrients at this point :) The plants are looking good, filling out nicely now. T3 is still the smallest of the three, so I think I'll keep that for clones and only flower the other two.

Yeah, same. I found using an EC meter was simpler and more accurate that trying to stick to their schedule. That sounds like its worth looking at then. Thanks Perhaps this needs a new thread... but I'll ask here for now. Are you using the FloraCoco range? Just the three (grow + bloom + micro?) or did you go with the six? Are you mixing just enough for a day's watering or do you keep a small res? Are you following their chart or again using that only as a guide? I assume that the FloraCoco ones follow the Flora series chart https://edge.generalhydroponics.com/www/uploads/20210121184300/FloraSeries-Basic-Feed-Charts.pdf, I don't see a coco specific one. Seems like they should

Time machine?

Yeah, its pretty crazy. Great fun to watch them recover :)

Update: Week 6 of veg I'm finally starting to see good growth again, so I've just done the LST. The photos are from immediately after so everything is still bent down a bit from being pushed around. I'll take photos again in a few days. And yeah, hillbilly style with string and binders. I've found it easy to work with and adjust so good enough for me My biggest concern atm is what looks like precipitation in my res. I've never had issues before with hortimix so I'm not sure what I'm seeing that now. So far I've tried My original (flawed) way: A then B then silicon then pH with no delay between each. This is definitely the worst way What should work in theory: Silicone into the res for +1 hour, then A (diluted), the B (diluted) then pH For the second method I took out ~5L of water for each of the A + B before putting in the silicon, then added them in after the 1 hour wait. Always stirred really well, and air pump running 100% of the time. There was no cloudiness with the 2nd option at all, but it went cloudy after ~24 hours. Very strange... I have recently started adding H2O2 (thanks for asking & the concern @ExoticCannabis2021). I'v read some good things about a reasonably low dosage of H2O2 being generally beneficial so was giving that a try. I'm not convinced that its causing the precipitation issues but my next attempt is going to be only A+B and see what happens there. I've seen no signs of nutrient deficiency with these plants so all ok so far. But I do have a few other similar age ones that have one or two leaves starting to show signs of issues, so this is something I need to get sorted ASAP.

pH balance, add ferts and then correct again or know what pH drop the ferts will cause and correct up front for that? I did try putting it in the res on its own for 1 hour before the ferts. I'm going to have to try a few more combinations, and especially try ferts on their own to rule out some issue there (all of a sudden)

Especially with coco its good to keep a consistent fert dosage. That way the plant is best adapted to take up the nutrients etc at a given pH and salt concentration. Switching between the two can work but not strictly ideal. I think if it continues to be an issue I'll try a grow without the silicon and see if its really worth the effort. How much difference that actually makes in practice, I can't personally say. Need to experiment a bit I guess

I'm seeing some sediment in my res after mixing. I've never had that happen before. This has not been my best grow . FWIW this is what I posted on @ExoticCannabis2021 page: What I tried last time was, silicone in the res for ~1 hour. Then A, then B, then pH down, then H2O2. Got sediment even like that. Over the weekend I did only A+B (diluted separately first in ~5L) and H2O2, and the water is looking cloudy to me today. Sigh... Next I'll try just A+B and see what that does. This is all very strange as I've never had issues before. Also very odd that the res water started out clear and only started looking cloudy ~24 hours after mixing. I'm going to have to play around a bit and see if its an actual problem atm and if so what I can do to fix it. So far no signs of lockout/deficiencies in the competition plants but I have the start, of what looks like it, in one of the other plants I'm growing so I definitely need to work out what is happening

Thanks! What I tried last time was, silicone in the res for ~1 hour. Then A, then B, then pH down, then H2O2. Got sediment even like that. Over the weekend I did only A+B (diluted separately first in ~5L) and H2O2, and the water is looking cloudy to me today. Sigh... Next I'll try just A+B and see what that does. (Derailing your thread, I'll post this again on my update :) )

That is crazy. What were you using there to get rid of them? How are you mixing the hortimix & silicone. A+B in a res then adding silicone? I'm suddenly starting get sediment after mixing, esp after silicone (i.e. I'm expecting lockout). Pretty strange as I've never had an issue before so interested to hear how you mix

Update: Week 5 of veg Huge improvement this week. I think they are now starting to grow at a more reasonable rate. Still no where near where they needed to be at this point. But I'm enjoying watching them recover at least. Plants were all topped, kinda sad removing the healthiest leaves, but all for a good cause :). I'll let them recover a few days and then think about LST Pics of before and after

Update: Week 4 of veg These plants are really impressive. Despite my best attempt to poison them they are recovering really well. I'd still say that has cost be a good two weeks, but its fun to watch them recover whatever :) The old leaves are still droopy and are starting to yellow. The new leaves are looking nice and healthy

Ah yes! I feel like i can compete for that atm

Update: Week 3 of veg - doh! This is probably an upsetting image, my apologies Repotted Probably worth talking about how I screwed up so far. I almost always grow from clones so my seedling stage growing clearly needs work. The ferts I was using for the seedlings had much too high an EC. I was diluting my veg ferts but was not diluting it nearly enough (or testing the EC ) That and being a bit distracted by non-cannabis things the last couple of weeks was enough to cause what looks like N toxicity. I've given the coco a flush and have have started using ferts with a (tested) much lower EC. The new growth is already looking better, so I'm hopeful. As I understand with N toxicity the old leaves don't recover fully/quickly. T1 and T2 have pretty good root systems and despite the horror that is the drooping there, the leaves look ok. So I'm hopeful. I'm estimating that I've lost a good week, maybe more, due to stunting. Its going to be really interesting to see how they do from this point on. Pretty silly mistake, but I'm happy. Just learned something valuable for next time. Also I'm really glad I'm growing in coco, it make the testing and correction very easy

Yeah these competitions are an amazing way to learn. Its the best and cheapest cannabis school around. Such a great community, thanks again everyone :)

Yeah, I'll do that pretty soon, probably this weekend. Coco seems to need much smaller pots than soil, but even so they are due an upgrade now

Update: Day 19 of veg Some pretty clear curling of the leaves today, and T2 (at the back) is growing quite a bit slower that the other two. I need to check the EC of my ferts, it would appear that its quite a bit too high at the moment. Fortunately I'm growing in coco so correcting this is pretty simple. I've flushed this morning and will test runoff until I'm happy before starting with the newly mixed (and EC tested) ferts. Apart from that the plants are looking healthy and strong. My night time temps are now around 17 so I'm watching to see if I need to do anything about that

I think using a bain-marie is easier than watching a thermometer. I.e. water in a pot with another container in the water, then the max temperature can't be above ~100C I see that https://ethanolsashop.co.za/ has a similar product for extracts. I'm still not sold on denatured / Iso for extracting. One day I'll create a thread so we can all argue :)

Nice update :) Its going to be interesting to compare the three as they grow

Yeah, sorry that was a kak update from me. Busy week and I did not explain it properly, sorry The stretch is from the seedling/clone tent. I could not lower the light there because of my other clones. So I was expecting some stretch. Earlier this week I moved the three seedlings into the veg tent under the 240w QB. I'm pretty sure I started off with it too low, which is why I decided to lift it. I'm watching to see how they do under the bigger lights and lowering every other day until I'm happy. A PAR meter would be nice, but in its absence I'm just aiming not to scorch them. Lower until it is too much then back off a bit (tm) Thanks again for the advice though :)

Yeah, mine could be too much. I'll keep an eye. Thanks *edit: I went back to 70cm for now and will lower once the plants are a bit bigger

Nice looking labels :)

Update: Day 12 of veg Theme of the week: DIY I planted the jiffies into coco/perlite on Saturday morning. My small fabric pots are a bit too shallow so I've opted to use polystyrene cups for now (fancy right?). I'll move to 4l fabric pots once they outgrow the cups. The seedlings got a bit leggy before I moved them into the veg tent. So I've added supports using wooden teaspoons and some wool (more fancy!) Growth is pretty good at the moment. I'm watering with a 30% strength fertilizer mix and slowly working up to full veg strength. Lights are about 50cm above the plants and somewhere around 50% strength. I'm increasing brightness a bit every few days. I'l considering lowering the lights a bit once I'm at 100% and the plants still look happy. I've quite creatively named the plants T1, T2 and T3 T1 T2 T3 So far so good :)

But... then what would I fiddle with????

Yes it really is! @Promwhat is the temperature range in your grow area now?